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Crib for Arduino - Metal Enclosure

PRT-10033

Description: Finally, home-sweet-home for your Arduino projects! Made from sturdy, lightweight powder-coated aluminum, the Crib for Arduino can accommodate either an Arduino Duemilanove or Arduino Mega with head room to spare for a shield like an Ethernet shield. This enclosure weighs only 5.6 oz (159 g) and is structurally very strong.

The baseplate is pre-drilled with hole patterns for both Arduino boards(Main and Mega) so you get perfect alignment and no hole drilling for board mounting. Use the snap-in standoffs to quickly mount your board and go.

Flanges on the lid let you mount your project anywhere with just 4 screws. Bolt it securely under your desk or to the ceiling! Or just insert four rubber feet (not included) into the flange holes so your Arduino project can sit on your desk and not scratch it.

You can definitely fit two shields on top of a standard Arduino in this case. You don’t get much room for connectors for the top shield because of the lip for attaching the faceplate, but there is about 15mm of clearance for components on the top shield.

As for xbee, I’m not sure how well that would do inside a thick aluminum enclosure. I’d be worried about signal attenuation.

I actually have come to hate this case, it created more problems than it solved. My ire was fully aroused by sloppy execution of the mounting plate which is completely worthless due to holes that aren’t where they should be. Wish I could have “volunteered” it for the scientific case testing you guys did last week. With the pickup truck.

I just gave it a try and it definitely fits. The X & Y dimensions fit inside the case with plenty of margin all around. The Z axis seems to work well for the depth of the joystick, though the buttons would be recessed about 8mm below the surface of the box so you’d want to add caps to them. It would be kind of big and chunky in your hands, though…

Just got mine and it looks great.
The front left standoff hole is a bit shy of the hole for my mega 2650 (or maybe my mega is off) but it was only about 1/16" and a little wiggling solved it.
It looks like the screws are supposed to bore into the pilot holes a bit so I recommend driving a screw into each hole once with a solid screwdriver to ready the holes before filling it with electronics.
Once assembled, it makes a very secure holder for the arduino. I got the ethernet faceplate and it makes a snug and solid fit. There is room for two shields (ethernet plus one) as long as your top shield is not too tall (about the height of a stacking header.
Having this solid serviceable case will really help me test my device in the field. Thanks guys!!

I concur! I needed a solid enclosure for a home automation project. I thought the price was a bit steep when I ordered, but now that I have it in hand I can see it is worth the price. It is solid and very well made.

With two proto-shields installed, there is 15mm clearance for components on the top shield (15mm between the board top surface and the inside of the top).

I think the price is reasonable considering what you’re getting, but I’d be much more inclined to…
Oh hey, I just looked at the other enclosures, and there are plastic arduino cases for about $10, which is what I was going to make an argument for. Nevermind then. :)

To play devils advocate here… Where is the bulk of the cost? Is it the aluminum or the powder coating? Would steel provide a more attractive price?
I can see aluminum being chosen for heat dissipation benefits, but it’s using standoffs to mount the arduino, which defeats that theory.
I guess I’m not seeing it. But don’t get me wrong, It’s a sweet lookin' case…

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